The Treasure of the Hairy Cadre (An Alpine Grove Romantic Comedy Book 8)

by Susan C. Daffron

  “I hope not.” Sara crawled inside and smacked a few ants with her shoe. “I think I got them all. My feet are freezing. Come on Holly.”

  The dog scuttled into the tent, followed by Zack, who crawled in next to Sara. He shook his wet hair and grinned at the annoyed look on Holly’s face. “Turnabout is fair play, dog.”

  Sara reached out through the tent flap for her pack and pulled a jacket, a towel, and her emergency kit inside. “We need to dry off. Take off your wet clothes and then we can curl up in the sleeping bag.”

  “Now you’re talking.” Zack swished some water droplets off her neck with his fingertip. “Mmm, body heat.”

  “My dog still stinks.”

  “Yeah, that smell kinda kills the mood.”

  Sara and Zack huddled together and listened to the patter of the rain on the tent. Although Zack closed his eyes and appeared to be relaxed or even asleep, Sara found herself wide awake, thinking about the treasure. Where was it? What was it? She also thought about Zack and revisited their earlier conversation in her head, from every possible angle. It turned out that he actually felt the same way about her that she did about him, yet the unanswered question of “What’s next?” still lingered. The ant invasion had interrupted that critical question. Stupid bugs.

  Next to her, Zack moved and readjusted his koala grip, undoubtedly to absorb more of her warmth. It was cozy in the tent and having Zack’s skin alongside hers was certainly enjoyable, but Sara was getting hungry. The stench of Holly also was starting to get to her. If it would ever stop raining, she could build a fire and heat up their freeze-dried food. The directions said you were supposed to use hot water. It might work without hot water, but it would take hours to reconstitute and would probably be revolting.

  Holly stood up and stepped on Sara. Zack groaned and attempted to move away from the wandering dog paws. Sara grabbed Holly’s collar. “Holly, down. You’re going to have to wait.” Holly reluctantly settled back into her narrow spot, but she definitely wasn’t pleased about her confinement.

  Zack sat up and rubbed his eyes. “I guess I was more tired than I thought. Sleeping bags are an improvement over lying directly on the ground.”

  “I think the rain might be letting up a little.” Sara unzipped the flap and peeked out. “Okay, maybe not.”

  Zack scrunched back into the sleeping bag. “I guess it shouldn’t be surprising, but I dreamed about ants. Really big ants. It was like one of those black-and-white Japanese Godzilla movies with bad dubbing, except with ants.”

  Sara put her hand on his. “I have some bad news. I can’t heat up the food without a campfire.”

  “Bummer.” He closed his eyes. “Wake me up when it’s time for dinner.”

  Sara squeezed his hand and he opened his eyes again. She smiled at the sleepy expression on his face. “I have a question.”

  “Just one?”

  “Okay maybe more than one. I read the article about you in my dad’s business magazine.”

  “And you fell asleep?”

  “No! It was interesting. You never mentioned what the businesses were that you started. I had no idea you were such a mogul.”

  “You never asked. And mogul? Really? Ugh.” He closed his eyes again.

  “Okay, you’re right I didn’t ask before. But the story about how you got started was fascinating. I mean, you cleaned offices and then turned it into this huge business empire.”

  “And sold it. I know this part. I was there. So what?”

  “But then you started selling baked goods to people in offices? And then climate-controlled storage spaces?”

  “Yeah, and sold them off, too. So?”

  “So, you’ve had all these ideas and started so many businesses. I didn’t realize how hard you have worked. No wonder you travel so much. Everyone wants to talk to you. Are you going to keep doing that?”

  “That’s not what you really want to know, is it?”

  “Not really.”

  “You want to know what happens after this trip and we go back to the real world, right?”

  “How are we ever going to see each other if you’re traveling all the time?”

  “Well, I might work less if I had something else to distract me.” He tickled her waist. “You can be pretty distracting.”

  “I’m serious. Now that we’ve admitted that we care about one another, how is this ever going to work? And do not say, ‘we’ll figure something out’ again, because I don’t have any ideas. Do you?”

  A crash came from outside the tent and Zack jolted toward the door. “What the…” He unzipped the flap and peered outside. “Did someone cut down a tree or something?”

  Sara crawled up next to him to look out into the forest. “I don’t know. It could be a bear, I guess. We did see one near here before.”

  “Great.” Zack scrambled to put his clothes back on. “I prefer not to be naked when I meet a bear.”

  “Our clothes aren’t dry. You’ll get cold.”

  “That’s okay.” He moved toward the door again. “I think the rain is letting up. Maybe you could work on building that fire, Sparky.”

  “All right.” Sara began dressing and let Holly out of the tent. “Let’s see if we can find some wood that’s not totally soaked.”

  Zack stood up and waved his arms through the misty air. “This fog is kinda cool. Like it’s raining, but not.”

  At a noise from the trees, Sara turned. “What was that?”

  “Jeez, I really hope it’s not a bear. Do I need to sing again?”

  “It wouldn’t hurt. Sing some of those Ricky Nelson songs so I can hear them. Maybe we can learn something about the treasure.”

  “All right. Way to multi-task, Sparky.” Zack bent to pick up a piece of wood. “All right, this one is called ‘Garden Party.’ He wrote it when he was kinda pissed-off after singing at Madison Square Garden.”

  Zack began singing the song and picking up wood. The sound of his voice echoed through the trees as he belted out the tune, which had references to multiple oldies musicians. The theme of the song was that musicians needed to play for their own enjoyment, and was more or less an homage to the old saw that since you can’t please everybody, you may as well please yourself.

  When Zack finished the song, Sara stopped and turned to him. “I like it, but you were right—it’s a sad song. He was obviously upset that no one appreciated his new music. All anyone wanted to hear was the old songs.”

  “And he wasn’t a youngster anymore, so people razzed him about what he looked like. You can’t be the teen-idol heartthrob forever. I guess Ira was there for that gig. I remember him talking about it.”

  “Interesting. The song even mentions Mary Lou. I guess that’s a reference to Ricky Nelson’s ‘Hello Mary Lou’ song, right?”

  Zack grinned. “You’re starting to know your oldies. I always think about the dog, not the song, though.”

  “That’s so sweet. I’m glad Holly is with us this time. I was so worried about her.”

  “Except for the rain, she seems to be enjoying herself.” Zack dumped some twigs onto the pile and Holly picked up one and carried it proudly. “Mary Lou was the same way as far as wanting to play with toys. I’m not sure what breed of dog she was, but she always wanted to retrieve stuff.”

  “Holly is tireless. I can throw the Frisbee a hundred times and she’ll keep going. I counted!”

  “I guess you’re not the only athlete in the family.”

  “It’s true, although Holly’s endurance puts me to shame. She is absolutely fanatical when it comes to retrieving.”

  Holly dropped her stick and ran off toward the shrubs, barking hysterically. Sara leapt to run after her. “Holly! What are you doing? Get back here!”

  The dog stopped in front of a large leafy clump of vegetation, but continued barking furiously. Sara grabbed her collar. “That’s enough, Holly. I think you scared whatever it was away.”

  Zack walked up next to them. “She’s quite a watchdog. I al
most had a heart attack.”

  Sara glanced at him and raised her eyebrows. “You’re sure Ozzy is in jail, right?”

  “I doubt they’d let him out. The guy stabbed me, and frankly, the cops were kinda upset about that. People who cause bodily harm make them cranky.”

  As Holly continued to growl below them, Sara whispered. “I swear I heard footsteps. Bears don’t walk far on their hind legs like a person does. You saw last time that bears get down on all fours to run.”

  “It can’t be Ozzy. Maybe it’s Bigfoot. Or a lost hiker or something. I mean get outta here—it can’t be Ozzy again.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “Let’s focus on making a fire. I’m hungry and my clothes are clammy.” Zack rubbed his eyes. “I don’t want to think about creepy people following us through the forest again.”

  “Me neither.” Sara led Holly back to the tent and grabbed the dog’s leash. “Thanks for being our brave watchdoggie, but your off-leash time is over for the evening.”

  Unwilling to accept her fate, Holly picked up a stick and wagged her tail, clearly hoping someone would throw it for her.

  Zack smiled. “It’s not happening, dog. Your momma doesn’t want you to play fetch with Bigfoot. She’s kinda strict about stuff like that.”

  Although making a fire was challenging in the damp, misty weather, Sara’s waterproof matches prevailed and she finally got a campfire going. She sat next to Zack, holding Holly’s leash in one hand and using a stick to prod the fire with the other. A pot of water was sitting on a small grate over the flames.

  Zack picked up one of the packages of freeze-dried food. “Curry, huh? That could be interesting. At this point, I’m ready to eat the powder. Maybe it’s like astronaut food.”

  “It’s almost done. Be patient.”

  “You may have noticed patience is not my strong suit.”

  “I noticed.” She stroked the fur on Holly’s head. “At least Holly didn’t have to wait. Dry dog food has advantages.”

  When at last the water was warm, Sara was finally able to prepare the meal. As usual, eating dramatically improved the mood around the campfire. Sara waved her spoon at Zack. “This is actually good.”

  “It beats thimbleberries. And it’s warm.”

  “So now that you feel better, I still want an answer to my question. Maybe your experience with flight attendants helps. How can anything between us work if you’re never around?”

  He peered over his spoon. “I doubt my flings with the ladies of the friendly skies are a good example of what you’d want.”

  “Probably not. What do you want?”

  Zack set the bowl in his lap and looked at Sara. “I guess that’s a reasonable question. For ages, the answer was money. I still can’t quite get over the idea that I don’t have to scrimp and stress over every single penny. After I sold that first business, I pretty much didn’t have to worry about making rent anymore. But it’s hard to get away from that feeling that everything could fall apart again.”

  “I suppose given, your past, that’s not surprising. But have you thought about what you want to do next?”

  “Not really. I’ve been doing the same thing for a while.”

  Sara gestured toward the forest. “I don’t suppose you’d like to move to lovely Alpine Grove, would you?”

  “It’s nice, but it’s hours and hours of boring driving to get to the airport.”

  “You said you do more stuff on the computer, though.” Sara poked at the fire again with the stick. “Maybe even thinking of settling somewhere?”

  “Yeah, I guess I did. I don’t know. I’m not sure I could stand living in such a small town. I mean, what do people do with themselves all day?”

  “Go to work, teach the next generation, play with my dog. Hang out with colleagues in the teachers’ lounge sometimes after class. I don’t know. What do you do?”

  “Work. Drive to appointments. Work some more. Drive some more. Get on a plane. Work somewhere else.”

  Sara laughed. “Wow, that sounds like so much fun! You’re certainly making the most of all those cultural opportunities available to you in the big city.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get your point.”

  “Seriously though—what do you want your life to be like in the future? Don’t you have hopes, dreams, plans?”

  “Not mapped out like you do.” Zack waved at her in exasperation. “How many years did it take you to plan your wedding again?”

  “I was engaged for two years. But we’re not talking about me. Do you want a house, kids, a dog, hobbies, activities? Anything other than work?”

  He shook his head. “I guess I haven’t thought much about it.”

  “Aren’t businesses supposed to make plans that go a year or five years into the future? Why should it be any different for you?”

  “I suppose I do harp on that type of thing with my clients. Usually more numbers are involved though.”

  “But you do see my point, right?” Sara giggled at the expression on Zack’s face. He looked like a second-grader who had been told he had to clean up his desk. She moved closer to him and kissed his cheek. “You don’t have to look so grumpy. I’m not trying to be a pest. But like I said before, I love you, and I would like for you to be happy.”

  He put his arms around her. “That’s nice, and I’ve been kinda burned out for a while, which isn’t doing me or my clients any good. So I’ll think about it. Promise.”

  After handling the cleanup, they hung up the food bags on the cord between the two trees and retired to the tent. Zack gave Sara an imploring look. “I don’t suppose your dog could sleep outside? She seriously reeks. Every time she gets wet, it gets worse.”

  “Actually, she’d prefer not to be crowded into the tent with us, but I’m afraid she’ll run after something again. Wait, I have an idea.” Sara readjusted the leash to loop it over her wrist and then encouraged Holly back outside. “You stay right here. Guard the tent.”

  Holly wagged and obligingly settled into a down position. Sara held her hand and wrist outside the tent and zipped the flap closed as far as she could. She turned to Zack. “This could be complicated.”

  He ran his hands along both sides of her body and settled in next to her. “Only if you make it so. Otherwise, it could be fun.”

  Sara smiled at the ticklish sensations. “I see what you mean.”

  The next morning, Sara’s awoke to tugging on her wrist. She was still attached to Holly and her fingers were freezing. Attempting to wiggle her hand, she squeaked at the uncomfortable position she had ended up in. Her whole arm had fallen asleep and it was waking up in an unpleasant prickly way.

  She tried to rearrange herself and next to her, Zack groaned. With a shove, she disentangled herself from his koala grip. “Could you move over?”

  “Okay, but it’s not like I can go real far.” He rolled onto his stomach and propped himself up on his elbows. “So are you ready to find a treasure today?”

  “Yes. And I can tell you, Holly is definitely ready to get going.” She clambered out of the tent and Holly greeted her with a flurry of tail wagging and happy rrr-ing noises.

  After walking Holly around for a while, Sara resurrected the campfire and heated up some more water for the freeze-dried food. Zack sat next to her, gazing at the creek. He looked unusually thoughtful again and she put her arm on his. “What are you thinking about?”

  “What you said last night about being happy.”

  “Did you come to any conclusions?”

  He smiled. “Being happy is good. I’m pretty happy right now, in fact. Spending the night having one-handed sleeping bag skirmishes with you improves my mood.”

  “That was more fun than I’d anticipated. I told you I can be fun.”

  “I never doubted it.”

  Holly stood up and strained on the leash, barking at the shrubs. Sara grabbed the leash from the branch where she’d attached it. “What is your problem, Holly?”

  Zack came up n
ext to them. “Bigfoot strikes again?”

  “She seems quite sure that something is over there, but I don’t see or hear anything.”

  “I vote we let it stay over there and get moving. I’m tired of listening to your dog bark. Given that I was awake anyway having a good time, it’s no big deal that she spent half the night woofing her head off. If we can manage to leave Bigfoot behind, I’m looking forward to better sleep at the mossy place tonight.”

  “Holly is not normally this much of a barker.”

  “I’m feeling more fondness toward the cat now. At least she was quiet.”

  Sara poked him in the ribs and grinned. “You know Holly is a nice dog. And by now, I’m quite sure Olivia is my mother’s cat.”

  “Got that all figured out, didn’t you?”

  “Absolutely. Olivia will get to have the best home ever.”

  “I can’t disagree with you there.”

  After breaking down the campsite and returning everything to the backpacks, Sara and Zack donned them for the uphill hike to the cabin, otherwise known as the “home of moss.”

  Zack readjusted the straps on his shoulders. “I have more sympathy for pack mules now. The ones that go up and down the Grand Canyon must be in amazing shape.”

  “If you sing, you won’t think about how heavy the pack is. I want to hear the rest of the songs.”

  “Okay, that’s not a bad idea.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “You might recognize this one. It’s called ‘Travelin’ Man’ and it was pretty popular back in the day.”

  Zack began singing, which added a festive air to their trudging as they made their way up the narrow deer trail that ran next to the creek. Even Holly had a spring in her step. Sara adored Zack’s singing voice. More people might go hiking if they could have their own private serenade when they were out on the trail.

  A couple of hours later, Zack had exhausted his supply of songs and had begun lobbying to stop for a rest. Sara finally relented and they removed their packs to settle in for a creek-side snack. Holly pressed her muzzle on Zack’s leg and gazed at him imploringly. He broke off a corner of cracker and handed it to her. “Your dog has the coolest eyes. I haven’t seen many blue-eyed dogs.”